C Magazine (Building 435)

Details

SU60SW
1137-0/2/10015

GOSPORT,
PRIDDY'S HARD,
C Magazine, (Building 435)

(Formerly listed as Gunpowder Magazine [Building No.435] at R.N.A.D.)

09-MARCH-1995

GV II*

Magazine. 1860/1. Brick, in English bond, with flat roof, with earth traverse along the S seaward side. Rectangular plan. The traverse extends to the E, being made against a sloping brick wall that is returned on the other side as the E elevation of the magazine, in the angle being a flat-roofed porch with plat band and gauged brick flat arch over C20 plank doors. Pierced wrought iron ventilation grille to bottom right, there being a row of similar grilles along the lower half of the N elevation; the latter having gauged brick flat arches over four shuttered ventilation openings. Vaulted interior, the area above the arches being infilled with earth..

HISTORICAL NOTE: An earth-traversed and casemated structure of 1860/1, originally intended to receive ammunition from ships coming in to refit or be paid off. It is a very impressive example of this type of structure, being carefully detailed in gauged brick and with pierced iron ventilation panels. It was built at a critical moment in naval history, as the Royal Navy met the challenge posed by the French through the development of ironclad, steam-powered and shell-firing ships. It was also built at the same time as the Palmerston administration had commissioned the construction of new forts around the naval dockyards, the traversing of the seaward elevation being a defence against enemy fire as much as serving the protect the rest of the site from accidental explosion. It is also of particular importance because of the role it played in the first (and best preserved) integrated shell filling facility established within an Ordnance Yard. It comprised the northern terminus of the site's first tramway system, and supplied the Laboratory magazine and associated shell-filling rooms (demolished). It had become an Expense Magazine for gunpowder and cordite by the 1890s.

The magazines and related structures at Priddy's Hard date from the late 18th century. The site's expansion from the mid 19th century was closely related to the development of land and sea artillery and the navy's transition from the age of sail, powder and solid shot to the Dreadnought class of the early 1900s. Priddy's Hard retains the best-preserved range of structures that relate to this remarkable history of continual enlargement and adaptation, one that encompasses that of Britain's dominance as a sea power on a global scale. For further historical details on this site, see the description for 'A' Magazine.

Listing NGR: SU5870301371

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

410593

Legacy System:

LBS

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